Kansas Municipal News
With record COVID-19, these Johnson County school districts send older students online
In what might be a sign of what’s to come in Johnson County, the Spring Hill school district plans to transition middle and high school students back to online-only classes later this month in the face of skyrocketing new COVID-19 cases. In this district at the southern edge of the county, much of it rural, the school board voted 5-2 on Monday to move older students to remote learning on Nov. 30, unless new case numbers start to drop by Nov. 25. Middle and high schoolers have been learning in person, full time, since last month — unlike in other Johnson County districts, where secondary students are back in classrooms for only part of the week. With Johnson County in the “red” zone per its school criteria, local districts are reevaluating whether all students should be in school buildings. Spring Hill is the first to carve out a path for older students to return to fully online classes after learning in person.
Source: Joco 913 News
Growing up in inner-city Detroit, Lawrence’s first director of equity and inclusion started on his path with one simple question
City Manager Craig Owens announced last month that Muhammad would be Lawrence’s first director of equity and inclusion. Muhammad made the move to Lawrence over the weekend and will start his position this week. Regarding why he wanted to come to Lawrence, Muhammad said a lot of the research that he focused on in graduate school centered on Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling stemming from a Topeka case that struck down racial segregation in schools. He said the region’s long journey toward being a progressive area resonated with him. And in Lawrence, he said he saw a city that was taking initiative to address equity issues.
Source: LJWorld.com.
Overland Park looks to parking and the rules that govern it
As Overland Park strives to be more livable and conducive to walking, biking and transit, officials plan to look at an issue that hasn’t been comprehensively examined in 30 years: Parking and the rules that govern it. Those regulations include the number of spaces required for apartments, offices, stores and other developments, as well as lighting, screening and landscaping in parking areas.
Source: Joco 913 News
Wichita BOE reverses decision, middle and high schools will stick with online classes
Students in Wichita middle and high schools will no longer be going back to school in-person in a hybrid model after the Board of Education reversed an earlier decision amid skyrocketing coronavirus indicators. Wichita Public Schools will stick with the current learning model for the rest of the semester, keeping all older students online only while elementary students are in-person or remote, depending on the enrollment choice at the start of the academic year. The school board did not make any specific decisions regarding winter sports. Practices are set to start next week with the first competitions in less than a month.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Municipal Bond Trends for November 9, 2020
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.
Sparking passion for firefighting
With only two days for planning, the Hutchinson Fire Department set up a hands-on, real-life basic fire skills training at a house on East 6th Ave. Hutchinson Fire Department Division Chief of Training and Safety Jesse Martin said that they wanted to thank Steve Petermann of Salt City Brewing Company for allowing them the use of this property for training. Using a real structure greatly enhances the realism for training. Petermann said that he plans to demolish the building to build a parking lot. The training coincided with the department’s recruit academy with four recruits slated to graduate at the end of November. Martin said, “We brought our recruits and our on-duty fire fighters here and they are going through basic fireman skills in a real residence.”
Source: Local – The Hutchinson News
License plate readers in high-crime areas of Wichita will take photos of your vehicle
Wichita police might take a photo of your vehicle using an automatic license plate reader if you drive through high-crime areas. The pilot program is targeted at reducing violent crime in the city, which has had a 111% increase in drive-by shootings in one year, said Lt. Casey Slaughter. “It’s huge, it’s astounding,” Slaughter said of the increase in violent crime. “It’s one of those things where we feel as a department we’re obligated, certainly, to do something. And this is just one tool among many in the bag that we’re going to try to see if this will be something that will help us out and help us identify suspect vehicles and ultimately suspects in these violent crimes.”
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Wichita Councilman tests positive for COVID-19, Mayor and others in quarantine
Starting Saturday, Mayor Brandon Whipple, members of the Wichita City Council, and some City staff will be quarantined for two weeks after Council member Brandon Johnson tested positive for COVID-19. City officials say exposed personnel will not be able to return to City Hall until approximately November 18. Council meetings will continue via an online software until Council can meet in person.
Source: KSN-TV
Reno County health officials call current COVID-19 situation ‘grim’ as cases skyrocket
“There’s a 10 day incubation period in there that we were hoping maybe if we could get in front of some of these infections and spread it out” Welch tells KAKE News. Hammersmith is pleading with people to get back to those basic Covid precautions. She says that if people do not double down on their efforts to prevent the coronavirus, like practicing good hygiene, wearing a mask, social distancing, and most importantly with the holidays coming up, avoiding crowds larger than 10 people, things will get a lot worse before they get better. “Our next phase is really shutting down our communities. And nobody wants to do that. It doesn’t help with our economy,” Hammersmith tells KAKE News.
Source: KAKE – News
Topeka committee continues discussion on police reform
Anyone who has problems with a Topeka police officer needs to report that to the police department, City Councilwoman Sylvia Ortiz said Monday. “If it doesn’t get reported, he cannot get disciplined for it,” Ortiz said at Monday’s meeting of the council’s police and community committee, which is discussing topics related to police reform. Topeka police Capt. Jamey Haltom responded by noting that a page on the police department website is devoted entirely to compliments and complaints. “The department takes your comments, compliments and complaints seriously,” says that page. It includes a link people can use to provide input.
Source: Local News | Topeka Capital-Journal
Sedgwick County positive test rate is 23%, COVID case rate is 6 times above red zone
By every measure available, the coronavirus pandemic is worse than it has ever been in the Wichita area, according to the latest data provided by local and state government. The number of people in Wichita hospitals with COVID-19 has nearly doubled in two weeks. During that time, nearly one in four people who were tested had the disease. The coronavirus hospital situation in Wichita has worsened one week after a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations caused the city’s two major hospitals to hit their capacities for intensive care unit patients.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Convention centers, museums become classrooms amid pandemic
In ordinary times, the airy convention center on a 61-acre site in Hesston, Kansas, hosts weddings, corporate retreats and church events. During the pandemic, it has become a schoolhouse for the district’s seventh- and eighth-graders. Megan Kohlman teaches literature and writing inside one of the rooms, separated from a math teacher’s space by only a plastic sheet. It’s hardly ideal, but for her it’s an upgrade from distance learning in the spring, when she juggled instruction with care of her own young children. “Everyone just really believes in the power of having kids with us as much as we can,” Kohlman said.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Overland Park committee tables discussion on backyard hens
Dreams of backyard hens in northern Overland Park didn’t completely die at last week’s Community Development Committee meeting. But changes that would open up the possibility of keeping chickens for people living on less than a three-acre lot may be a longer time coming, if at all. The city council committee members became deadlocked on whether to move forward with legal changes that could allow more chickens in the northern part of the city, where properties are smaller and interest is higher. The issue was lot size. The city currently regulates hens through its planning department. As it now stands, people can have hens if they have at least three acres of land. Those on less than three acres have to go through a cumbersome process of appearing before the city planning commission to get a special use permit.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Sabetha sees increased sales tax distributions
Sabetha’s sales tax distributions are above last year’s distributions for October. This is according to the October County/City Local Sales Tax Distribution Report released by the Kansas Department of Revenue. The state issues these distributions two months after collection, so the October distribution is a reflection of August sales. Sabetha saw increased sales tax distributions in the month of October alone — with distributions of $46,321.74, a 12.2 percent increase from the $41,297.87 distributed in October 2019. Sabetha’s local sales tax rate is 1 percent.
Source: Sabetha Herald
Independence announces Park and Zoo leadership changes
Independence City Manager Kelly Passauer has announced staffing changes in the City’s Park, Zoo and Cemetery Department, in light of the pending retirement of Director Barb Beurskens. Angela Anthony has been named Park and Zoo Director and will join the City staff on November 16. Katie Southworth has been promoted to the role of Assistant Park and Zoo Director, under the City’s new reorganization plan. Anthony is currently employed as a high school science teacher in Copan, Oklahoma, but brings previous experience working as a park ranger and manager of visitor and volunteer services with the United States Fish & Wildlife Service at Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge near Okmulgee, Oklahoma.
Source: Independence, KS
Municipal Bond Trends for November 6, 2020
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.
Smoky Valley Distillery hidden gem of small-town pride
Decades ago, Bud Von Strohe and his good friend, Dewey Grooms, would drive in a Cadillac down Washington Street in Marquette, drinking whiskey and smoking cigars. Half a century later, Bud’s grandson, Stan Von Stohe, in remembrance of his grandfather, is cooking up a batch of Bud & Dewey’s Premium Straight Whiskey in his new business, Smoky Valley Distillery in Marquette. Although Stan grew up in Denver, he spent his summers helping out on his great aunt’s farm in Marquette. It was then he vowed someday he would return to this central Kansas town and buy the century-old grocery store on the town’s main street.
Source: Local – The Hutchinson News
More teachers are coming to Kansas than leaving it, data shows
Despite a common belief that Kansas loses more of its teachers every year, the state actually imports more teachers than it loses to other states. According to a report from the Kansas Department of Education’s Teacher Vacancy and Supply Committee, licensure data from last school year shows that with 562 new educators coming from out of state compared to 313 teachers who reported leaving the state to find work, Kansas imported 249 teachers.
Source: Leavenworth Times
Humboldt PD hit by COVID
Three of the five-member police force have tested positive or are awaiting results. Other departments are being asked to help cover the city. “We’re falling like flies,” said Shannon Moore, police chief of Humboldt. Of Humboldt’s five-member police force, two have tested positive for COVID-19 and Chief Moore, who is displaying symptoms, was awaiting her test results Friday afternoon. Moore said she has contacted the Allen County Sheriff’s Department as well as the Kansas Highway Patrol requesting backup. Cole Herder, city administrator, assured residents “We’ll have someone on staff 24 hours a day.”
Source: The Iola Register
Size of internet providers factors into Kansas’ rural broadband divide
Lauren Clary gets a sinking feeling when someone asks her if she’s watched a popular show on Netflix. “I tell them, ‘Nope, I don’t have the internet at home,’” said Clary, who lives on a rural property near Lake Afton with her husband and young child. “It’s amazing how many people are shocked when you tell them that.” But the Clarys are far from alone in having no or minimal internet access at home. About 95,000 Kansas households have no access to the internet or lack what has been defined as the bare minimum of internet access, said state Rep. Mark Schreiber, an Emporia Republican and a member of the Statewide Broadband Expansion Planning Task Force. Fast internet is so crucial to daily life that Kansans are finding creative workarounds, from turning their phones into hotspots to finding someplace nearby where they can access Wi-Fi.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle